NEW YORK – Hearst Corp. has acquired private technology company Veretech, LLC, which operates online vehicle trade-in and sales lead generation applications now used by more than 2,000 consumer retail Web sites, manufacturer sites, and Web portals. Veretech’s products are offered under the Intelliprice and Black Book Online brands through licenses with major automobile manufacturers, including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Kia and Suzuki. (Black Book is operated by National Auto Research, also owned by Hearst.) The announcement was made by Victor F. Ganzi, president & CEO of Hearst Corp., and Richard P. Malloch, president of Hearst Business Media. Veretech, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hearst Business Media, will continue to be based in Boca Raton, Florida. All employees of the company will remain with Hearst. According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, 51 percent of new-car purchasers had used the Internet to gather information about the purchase or lease of their most recent vehicles. Of those respondents, 40 percent said the reason for searching on the Internet was to compare and check prices.